Chapter 26 Talisman (2)
“Don’t break it, just put it in the car.”
Grandpa Liu turned around and saw Su Xiaoxiao take out the Chegong talisman. His face couldn’t help but tense up.
“Oh, this is similar to the talismans sold at the antique market.”
Su Xiaoxiao didn’t talk back and put the Chegong talisman back. The few of them followed behind Grandpa Liu and soon arrived at the parking lot at the village entrance.
“Xiaoxiao, we don’t have anything good in our village. We only have a few talismans. You can take them.”
Before Su Xiaoxiao got into the car, Grandpa Liu pulled her back and handed a big envelope to Su Xiaoxiao. “It’s not very peaceful now, SO pay attention to your safety outside. It’s best if you carry these talismans with you at all times.
Your dad said that he bought a new house in the city, and there’s a house-suppressing talisman inside. When we go back, we’ll stick it on the door!”
“Ah? Sixth Grandpa, what’s wrong with you today?”
Su Xiaoxiao was a little confused by sixth grandpa’s words. She was a girl going to Yanjing to study, why would she bring these talismans?
“If I give it to you, just take it. Be good.”
Grandpa Liu didn’t say much. He looked at Su Xiaofan. “Your father and I are not enemies. You should come back to the village more often. Don’t go to the antique market to learn all those nonsense instead of learning your own things.”
“Got it, Sixth Grandpa. After I’ve sent my little sister to Yanjing, I’ll come here to learn from you.”
Su Xiaofan nodded. He thought Sixth Grandpa was talking about the craftsmanship of making bronze. Not to mention, even the top craftsmen in the country were far inferior to Sixth Grandpa in the imitation and restoration of ancient bronze.
“Alright, let’s go. Be careful on the road.”
Standing in front of the car, Grandpa Liu waved his hand.
“Xiaofan, you’ll drive?”
Zheng Dagang looked at Su Xiaofan. I’m not familiar with the road here, so I can’t see clearly at night. Don’t let anything happen.
The Su village was located at the foot of Xiao mountain. It was seven or eight kilometers away from the town, and another five or six kilometers before they could get on the highway.
Many of these small roads were in the fields, with ditches on both sides. It was good to have a wide view during the day, but at night, Zheng Dagang was afraid that he would drive the car into the ditches.
“Sure. Brother Gang, you take the co-pilot seat.”
Su Xiaofan opened the door to the driver’s seat.
After he recovered from his car accident in high school, he had taken a driving license test. In Su Xiaofan’s own words, taking a driving license test and learning from traffic rules could be considered a lesson learned.
He skillfully started the car. Su Xiaofan was very familiar with Zheng Dagang’s SUV. Sometimes, he would drive the car with Zheng Dagang when he went to purchase goods.
“Sixth Grandpa, please go back.” Su Xiaofan rolled down the window and greeted Grandpa Liu, and the car drove into the night.
“Xiaoxiao, what talisman did sixth master give you? Let me see it. “‘ Zheng Dagang turned around and saw Su Xiaoxiao open the envelope and take out a few pieces of yellow talisman paper. He couldn’t help but curiously reach out his hand.
“I’ve never seen Sixth Grandpa believe in this before.”
Su Xiaoxiao handed the talisman to Zheng Dagang.
“Who knows what’s going on? I don’t even know what kind of talismans these are.” Su Xiaofan was driving and couldn’t turn his head to look.
“You don’t say. These talismans are much better than the ones we bought in the market.”
Zheng Dagang had a total of three talismans in his hand, and he felt the difference as soon as he touched them.
Daoist objects were common in the antique market and belonged to the miscellaneous category. They were also related to magic artifacts, which happened to be in Zheng Dagang’s business scope. His vision was much better than Su Xiaofan’s.
“This yellow paper is specially made. It’s not the kind that is wholesale in the market. It’s much thicker. Eh, this is actually hard yellow paper. Just this paper alone is quite valuable…” Zheng Dagang looked at the talisman in his hand with some surprise. The hard yellow paper he was talking about was an artistically processed paper of the Tang Dynasty. It was made by dyeing, wax, and calms, and was called hard yellow paper.
The paper made in this way was easy to store for a long time and had a smooth luster. Because the paper was dyed with yellow berberis juice, not only was it a yellow dye, but it was also moth-proof. Now, many scriptures and picture books passed down from the Tang Dynasty were mostly written with this kind of paper.
However, in Zheng Dagang’s view, the yellow paper used for these talismans was indeed made in the Tang Dynasty, but it was a modern imitation. Otherwise, this paper alone could be regarded as a cultural relic.
Zheng Dagang commented on the paper first, and Su Xiaofan and Su Xiaoxiao, who were driving, listened with great interest. Drawing talismans required four things, brush, ink, paper, and ink stone. Just like the four treasures of the study, one could not be missing. In addition, one needed to add cinnabar.
brush referred to a brush. This normal brush would do. If you wanted it to be higher, you could use Wolf fur to make a brush. It was said that Wolf fur had spirituality and made a better brush.
Two pens were usually required, one red and one black. It depended on the situation. The ink stone and ink stone were the pine ink.
The ink stone could be used for normal writing and didn’t need to be specially made.
The most important thing was the paper, which required yellow paper. When placed together with cinnabar, it would be the yellow paper of the vermilion book.
“This is the House-suppressing talisman, this is the Fiend-breaker talisman, and oh, there’s even a healing talisman. Are these things useful?”
Zheng Dagang recognized all three talismans.
These things were very common. He would buy a batch of them every New Year and sell them in the antique market. However, the quality of those talismans was much worse, and they could be torn if he used too much force in his hand. Seeing that the road ahead wasn’t so narrow, Su Xiaofan turned his head and looked at the talisman in Zheng Dagang’s hand. Suddenly, a few pieces of information appeared in his mind.
[ Repair points: 3 points]
[ low-level incomplete Fiend-breaker talisman, can be repaired. 1 repair point will be deducted. Repair?]
[ low-level incomplete House-suppressing talisman, can be repaired. 1 repair point will be deducted. Repair? ]
[ low-level incomplete Healing talisman, can be repaired. 1 repair point will be deducted.
Repair? ]
“They’re all low-level incomplete talismans?”
Looking at the information in his mind, Su Xiaofan had no more energy to complain. So far, other than the Han Dynasty cauldron at the village entrance, which was a complete dharmic artifact, the other dharmic artifacts and talismans that Su Xiaofan had encountered were all broken. However, Su Xiaofan could not tell what was broken from the surface.
“It doesn’t matter if the talisman is useful or not, this paper is good enough.” Zheng Dagang put the three talismans in the envelope and returned it to Su Xiaoxiao, “Brother Gang, you’re in the magical equipment business. How could you not know if it’s useful?”
Su Xiaoxiao knew that every New Year, the talismans that her brother brought back were all from Zheng Dagang.
Su Xiaoxiao put the envelope into her brother’s bag and took out the bell to play with. “Xiaoxiao, Brother Gang doesn’t know either. I’m only in charge of selling them, but they’re not useful.”
Zheng Dagang replied with a little guilty conscience. It would be strange if a hundred talismans bought from the wholesale market for a few dozen Yuan were really useful.
it should be of some use. If we encounter something dirty, it might be of use.
Su Xiaofan said. He had seen many broken dharmic artifacts and talismans recently. At the very least, they were different from modern crafts, but Su Xiaofan didn’t know what they were used for.
“Why is there fog in front? Xiaofan, drive slower.” Zheng Dagang saw the fog in front of them from the windshield and quickly called out to Su Xiaofan.
“It’s fine. That place is a threshing ground, and the place where the fog came from is also on the side.”
Su Xiaofan replied. He was very familiar with the terrain here. He used to ride his bicycle back and forth often, and he would never go wrong even with his eyes closed. “Brother, could it be that you’re right? Did you encounter something dirty?”
Su Xiaoxiao, who was sitting in the back seat, changed her voice to a low one. “I died so miserably, please come and save me.”
“Hey, don’t. Xiaoxiao, don’t scare Brother Gang.” Hearing Su Xiaoxiao’s voice, Zheng Dagang, who was sitting in front, suddenly shivered. He was originally a bold person, but it also depended on the time and place. Everyone who lived in Luochuan knew that Yao mountain was a place with tombs on top of each other. It was unknown how many tombs there were. The ghost stories that spread from there could be written into a book. Zheng Dagang’s car was now driving at the foot of the Xiao mountains. Zheng Dagang absolutely believed that the tomb would appear after digging a dozen meters down from where their car was. He would be scared to death if she pretended to be a ghost in such an environment.
“Brother Gang, don’t listen to her. She’s so gutless yet she’s trying to scare people.” Su Xiaofan, who was driving, pursed his lips. He used to ride his bicycle back to the village with his sister, and the two of them often told ghost stories to each other. Every time, Su Xiaoxiao would be the one screaming in fear. Now, it was the other person who was scared.
“Hey, brother, brother, okay… There really seems to be a ghost…” Suddenly, Su Xiaoxiao’s trembling voice rang out. “Come on, you’re still trying to scare me?” Su Xiaofan sneered. “Ghosts are human too. They don’t even have bodies, so what’s there to be afraid of? Find one and I’ll catch it for you.” Su Xiaofan was not bragging. He was really bold. In the past, he had to pass by a graveyard on his way back to the village from the town. It was said that the unmarked common graves were where the ancient craftsmen were buried. Later, it became the burial ground of refugees.
During the war, many bandits were also buried here.
The unmarked common graves were buried very shallow, and a heavy rain could wash out some coffins. At night, the “ghost fire” caused by human bones could be seen everywhere, so ordinary people were not willing to pass through here at night.
But Su Xiaofan didn’t care. When he was studying in town, he would ride home every after self-study.
night One time, it was too dark, and Su Xiaofan couldn’t see the road. He found two bones that glowed with a phosphorescence to the front handle of his bicycle.
and tied them When the wind blew and rubbed, the will-o-wisps emitted by the bone could really provide him with some illumination. Later, the unmarked common graves were moved away, and Su Xiaofan felt it was a pity because he would scare his sister to tears every time he went there.
When the old village chief found out about it, he called Su Xiaofan over and gave him a good scolding. It was not because he was bold, but because those bones were the bones of the ancestors, and Su Xiaofan’s actions were too disrespectful to his ancestors. “Xiaofan, good… It seems like there really is one, then… There are two shadows over there.” Just as Su Xiaofan was teasing his sister, Zheng Dagang’s voice was heard, and he looked out the window with a frightened expression.